Reth Aur Reghistan

Reth Aur Reghistan, which translates to Sand and Desert, was a multi-year arts project led by sisters Nimra Bandukwala and Manahil Bandukwala from 2019-2023. The project involved traveling within Sindhi, Pakistan, to research Sindhi folklore through oral storytelling, and historical and visual archives. The artists interpreted folktales through their contemporary, diasporic lens using poetry, rewritten accounts of folktales, and sculptural pieces. The sculptures were created using foraged and reclaimed materials, such as pieces from their grandmother’s collection of well-worn saari, or shells gathered from a beach in Karachi, to bring to life characters and scenes from these ancestral tales. Memory is embraced as a creative medium, and pieces from the past are used to tell stories of the present.

The project aimed to give those in the diaspora a context and means to bridge knowledge gaps between us and our ancestry. As grandparents and grandchildren move further apart, as the poetic nuances of these stories become blurred in the English language, as identities become multiple and overlapping, these stories become roots that ground us in soil that is far from our homelands.

Nimra and Manahil Bandukwala shared their stories and art in the book Women Wide Awake: Sculptures, Stories and Poems from Sindhi Folklore, published in 2023 by Mawenzi House Publishers. It can be purchased here.

About Women Wide Awake:

“Women Wide Awake is a collection of stories, poems, and visual art exploring folklore from the region of Sindh, Pakistan. This multi-genre book features stories of women, witches, sea monsters, and mystical saints, accompanied by art and poetry. Collectively they explore themes that have resonated with people for centuries — acts of courage, strength, defiance, and love. Two sisters build a labyrinthine palace to test their suitors…a woman swims across a treacherous river at night to meet her forbidden lover…a bartendress makes a grave mistake. These folktales have persisted across generations and national boundaries through ritual storytelling and song. The sculptures were created using reclaimed materials: sari fabric, wedding invitations, flowers, shells, and animal bones.”

More about the project can be found on the project website at sculpturalstorytelling.com.

This project was generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts Research & Creation Grant, as well as the City of Mississauga Microgrant and the City of Ottawa.